Hela Kvichsky
Hela Kvichsky is one of the heroines of Kamigami no Asobi. She is the Norse Goddess of Death and is a being who presides over the realm of Niflheim. Personality Initially, Hela is an enigmatic, gloomy, very withdrawn, solitary and antisocial girl who doesn't see value in having a bond with someone. Hela is intellectually gifted, yet she has problems in social behavior. It's been stated that she either never learned or never bothered to learn social skills. She even considers herself a 'gloomy outcast', often deciding to distance herself from others. She is socially awkward and has a big appetite. Hela is incredibly aloof and seems to show darker sides of her when angered. She is cold and ruthless in battle, usually ending the lives of her enemies as one would expect from a seasoned assassin. She is fascinated by a pair of conjoined dolls that she owns, wondering how they can be so calm even though they are attached. When Balder suggests that is the reason, Hela claims that that's impossible. She also claims that, in the end, everyone is alone, no matter how many bonds they may have. However, despite telling Balder to stay away from her, as time goes on, she becomes accustomed to his presence and doesn't seem to mind having him around. She expresses her opinions freely and extremely, which can come across as mean and often rubs people the wrong way, though she claims she is just being honest. She has an unusually quick tendency to self-victimize and she refuses to believe compliments from other people. She also is very self-conscious about her body and tends to think that other people consider her ugly. She also has a tendency to scold other people for being indecent, sometimes with no good reason. Due to her paranoia, she easily assumes that boys have bad intentions if they wish to spend time alone with her. Hela is often considered to have very dark humor, such as saying that she'll turn Balder into "one of her puppets'", only to say that she's joking later on. Hela is a person that refuses to take command and refuses promotion unless she was mandated to do so. She is also extremely afraid of blood and the dark due to very traumatic experiences. She also strongly dislikes bathing, to the point of fear, which might also be a result of an unknown trauma. Furthermore, she gains a fear of ghosts due to her ability to interact with them. Eventually, Hela revealed a slightly kinder and more caring side of herself. Though she remained rather pessimistic and gloomy, she was more mature and stronger. While not used to touching other people, she is later fine with hugging Balder, and willing to comfort her friend though she says she isn't good at it. Hela's withdrawn and gloomy nature is later revealed to be the result of the death of her cousin, as she discovered in the 5th grade, was actually her twin sister. When her sister was alive, Hela was much happier, even wearing brighter clothes, though she was still notably shy compared to her sister. Hela and her sister quickly became inseparable, and the two would often meet up in secret, as her adopted mother/aunt didn't like them meeting up with fear that Hela would return to her biological family. As a result, Hela was completely devastated by her sister's death by leukemia (brought upon by her Curse), to the point that she initially didn't want to accept she was gone and even fulfilled her promise to give her a doll she wanted for her birthday. The sheer despair of losing her sister has apparently rendered Hela null to any other trauma. Hela dislikes cell phones, saying that it disturbs her to be connected to other people at all times by electromagnetic waves, most likely a by-product of her solitary nature. Nevertheless, she carries one by request of her aunt. Her hobby is drawing, though she states that she doesn't enjoy creating art so much as she enjoys looking at it. Hela is also very insecure about her eyes, which is why she hides using her hair that she had grown over. When she shows them to Balder for the second time, however, he says that they're beautiful and she doesn't need to hide them. Because of her eyes, Hela knows that death is not a blessing since when it happens, you are all alone. Although she can be rather creepy at times, Hela is actually a really kind girl. She is also very selfless, which is evident by the fact that she willingly "sacrificed" herself to prevent any more people from falling victim to her Curse, as she couldn't stand to see anyone else die after losing her sister, showing that she really does care despite her seemingly apathetic nature. When asked by Balder how she can stand being treated like she doesn't exist, Hela states she thinks it's a better alternative than having to treat someone else like they don't exist, further showing how selfless she is. In contrast to her typically taciturn behavior, Hela also has a surprisingly childish side; when the class are on their school trip, she spends time building a sandcastle and gets scared when an octopus sticks to her hand, leading her to think that it was going to eat her. It should be noted that these traits of her personality only appear in the anime, not in the original novel. Relationships Balder Early in the series, she tells Balder to stay away from her, but as time goes on she becomes more used to him, because he would always try to speak to her. She tells him to be careful of her curse, indicating concern. She grows to trust Balder to greater extent and confides in him about her family, acknowledging her disdain for her mother. Later in the series, Hela is also shown to smile the most often when Balder is around, adding that she sees him as a close individual to her. Hela considers Balder to be a good friend of hers, with Balder recognizing that she is special due to the fact that she is not affected by his charm. In the game, this causes Balder to be very interested and wanting to get closer to her, to the point that due to his limited time, he becomes more aggressive with pursuing her, causing Hela to become disturbed and alarmed. In the anime, he is kind to Hela, and enjoys spending time with her. He is also protective of her, and sees her as a fragile thing. Often become distressed whenever something small happens to her. He is also extremely possessive of her, disliking it when she shows affection to or spends time with other gods. He becomes jealous very easily, and grew furious whenever he believed that she was in love with Loki, almost attacking her at one point. However, once Loki brings him out of this, he apologizes to her, and agrees to slow down and be more considerate of her feelings. Still, he is clingy. Trivia * The Old Norse feminine proper noun Hel is identical to the name of the location over which she rules, Old Norse Hel. The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old English hell (and thus Modern English hell), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, and Gothic halja. All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō ('concealed place, the underworld'). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-: 'to cover, conceal, save'. * Hela suffers from a pathological fear of the dark, blood, and ghosts. Quotes * "It doesn't matter how many relationships we seem to have. We're all alone." * "It's sad when people die." * ''I don't dislike rain. My favorite is the cold rain that falls in midwinter, just before it turns into snow." * "Trust me." * “Dolls are hollow, you see? Completely hollow in body and soul. That void connects them with death. But hollow things seek to fill their emptiness.”